PDEng Position Filters for ventilation systems with heat exchangers at the University of Twente

The project aims at the design of filters for ventilation systems with heat exchangers in the Professional Doctorate in Engineering (PDEng) programme Energy & Process Technology. This 2-year post-MSc programme contains a design project and an educational part that will be followed at the University. The design project is carried out in close cooperation with Brink Climate Systems. The educational programme will have an in-depth and broadening character with ample attention for professional development and will be partly tailored to the design project. In collaboration with Brink Climate Systems, new designs for long-life filters in ventilation systems will be aimed at.

Brink Climate Systems is active on the European market as producer of ventilation systems with heat recovery. Important drivers for improved ventilation systems in houses are comfort and saving of energy. Saving of energy is obtained by using a heat exchanger which is able to exchange a large proportion of the energy in the return air with the energy of the fresh air coming from outside.
New houses often use mechanical ventilation systems with energy recovery, being the most energy efficient means for ventilation. One of the challenges is the amount of maintenance. In order to protect the heat exchanger, filters are placed upstream of the heat exchanger. Especially in case of energy efficient installations with well isolated ducts for the fresh air inlet, filters will be exposed to moisture equal to that of the fresh air outside the building. At high moisture levels the risk of biological contamination increases considerably. One of the operational challenges is the maintenance of the filters which are to be replaced once or twice a year because of hygienic reasons. Residents experience inconvenience replacing the filters. Furthermore, during filter replacement they are confronted with dirty filters, giving them the impression that the ventilation system introduces contamination in their houses. The term filter will be interpreted in a broad sense. Also the washing of air, electrostatic dust capture, or solutions with cyclones can be part of the solution, provided that the final implementation obeys the constraints of cost and noise. The PDEng in this project will cooperate with another PDEng working on noise reduction of ventilation systems with heat exchangers.

Deadline Application: 15-02-2015

Further details:
PDEng Position Filters for ventilation systems with heat exchangers at the University of Twente